


Random Encounters FFIV

by Ysavvryl



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Dark Magic, Drabble Sequence, Gen, Malevolent Architecture, Most Characters Have a Drabble, Random Encounters, Yang vs Crocodile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 18:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 14,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5713483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of FFIV retold mostly through its random encounters, because even the little moments are important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Keipo Desert

The sand moved underneath her feet, catching Rydia by surprise. She would have stopped, but then a metal hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. Looking up, she saw a tall man in rough dark armor that completely encased his body. One hand remained on her shoulder, while the other brought out a sword with a black blade. That blade was within her reach.

And it was the stuff of nightmares, that sword and that armor. The sword craved blood and violence; she could hear its wordless whispers, its begging for more to kill whether it be man or monster. In trying to be heard by its wielder, it kept pulling for more battles to be fought. Thus far, it wasn't being heard yet, except for the child. The armor was also trying to be heard, but did so by fighting the person it was protecting. He might not realize it, but the armor was invading his mind and soul with its dark magic, trying to corrupt and consume both until they were made whole. Man, sword, and armor, a remorseless bloodthirsty devil walking the lands and destroying all around them.

Yet, the blade was out to protect her. The armor was there beside her, taking the monsters' blows so that she did not come to harm. That was because the man was fighting back against the power of the dark knight, deaf to their temptations. If he listened, he might have more power. But he did not.

Rydia looked past the blade to see that five Sandmen had come out. What were those monsters? Were they really once human, now mutilated beyond recognition by the sand demons? She tried to recall her magic lessons for something to help… maybe an ice spell. Before she could do that, her guardian took the glowing sword and slashed out towards the monsters. A group of black waves ripped through them, causing them to scream horrifically until their bodies crumbled into brown sand. She had seen him do that with large groups so often while walking across this desert, but the dark magic still made her skin crawl.

Then his legs gave way and he collapsed onto his knees in the sun-baked sand. Rydia panicked. "Cecil!"

"It's okay," he said, although his voice sounded exhausted. She saw his eyes briefly from behind that full face mask, but the shadows were so dark. "We've been walking a long ways; do you want to set up a tent and rest?"

"I'm not tired," she said. Maybe her feet hurt from walking so far, but she wasn't tired. "But your sword is killing you in little bits every time you use that dark magic."

Cecil shook his head and made himself get back onto his feet. "Don't worry about that. I think we should take a break; I don't want to push you too hard." But after he got the tent set up, it was only a matter of minutes before he was completely asleep.

Rydia didn't get to sleep as quickly. She was scared, honestly. This man had killed her mother's dragon, which had killed her mother. After that, he had caused the whole village of Mist to burn down. Now she was alone, and strange soldiers wanted her dead. But, Cecil was protecting her. All the people that she knew and loved were dead, and she didn't know what to do or where to go… except to follow the man who had destroyed it all.

Although she felt a strong desire to run back to Keipo and find someone to help her there, she didn't know who else would be strong enough to protect her. And through her magic, she could hear that the sword and armor were still awake. They had latched onto Cecil's guilt and were using it to cause him nightmares when his body was too tired to awaken from them.

And that made her want to help him when she was terrified of his power. Rydia clasped her legs to her chest and cried. "What should I do, Mommy?"


	2. Water Cave

Zombies. After all this time in the Water Cave, Tellah was most annoyed with the zombies. Nearly everything in this part of the cave system could be dealt with in a single mass spell. But not the zombies. The Water Bugs too were stubborn to be defeated, but they would try to revive their comrades and run away more often than not. The shambling corpses of the undead never got the hint that they were dead and they ought to stop fighting.

It didn't help that they were being chased by those giant moths too. The splashing footsteps of his two companions stopped along with him as they considered their position. Running from the moths was supposed to hurry things along, but it had only trapped them. The old Sage gripped his wooden staff. "Fine, if it's going to be like that," he said quietly, then called out the magic words for the spell Fire 1.

Fierce red flames leapt out of the water and eagerly latched onto the rotting fabric covering the decaying flesh. The purifying fire would disrupt the magic keeping them alive faster than any other elemental spell. Although the smell was never pleasant.

The scream of a young girl distracted him from the undead monsters.

Feeling a father's concern, he looked back in time to see the green-haired summoner latch onto Cecil. There was a moment that he felt that he ought to separate the child from the dark knight… even if he had asked for his help, Tellah knew those who followed the dark sword were often as dangerous as the monsters. But as the silver-winged moths dived at the pair, Cecil wrapped his arm around the girl, forcing them to attack him instead. Once they backed off, he swiftly grabbed Rydia, picked her up and set her on his hip, drew his sword in the hand that wasn't supporting the girl, and slashed the wings off one of the moth monsters.

The sound of flames coming closer brought his attention back to the zombies. Tellah cast Cure 2 at them to finish them off, since the life aspect of that spell would harm the undead instead of heal. Giving them a minute to make certain that they would stay defeated, he checked back with the other pair to discover that Cecil had destroyed the moths. He was still carrying Rydia, though; the girl had her head buried in the knight's shoulder.

"Could you give a warning of some kind before you use that spell again?" Cecil asked. "She's scared of fire."

"Ah, I'll try to keep that in mind," he said. "I'm sorry, Miss Rydia." She didn't respond immediately, so Tellah smiled and tried to make light of the situation. "Say Cecil, you're a good young man. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I do," he replied, sounding like he wouldn't be convinced otherwise.

"Well good for her. I suppose I have to be finding another fellow to be a husband to my Anna. That is, once I get her away from that weakling bard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tellah's weird. A number of NPCs act scared of Cecil the dark knight, but he is all, 'oh hey, good to see you, will you help me get my daughter back?' And he thinks that having a child summoner around will help... well Rydia is a big help, as is Tellah, but that's one example of the standard non-realism of old-school games.


	3. Antlion Den

Rydia was doing better, showing more curiosity and less fear. That was a relief to Cecil. Having her look to him in admiration, though, that unnerved him sometimes. Had she forgiven him that quickly? He hadn't quite forgiven himself… although the important thing now was finding this sand ruby to save Rosa. If he lost her, it would be hard to find a reason to keep fighting.

Darker whispers suggested that maybe he could keep fighting and find it hard to stop.

Cecil checked on his companions. Tellah had rushed off after Golbez, but then the Prince of Damcyan agreed to help them with the Antlion. Edward was partly forcing himself to come along, still shocked by the death of his beloved Anna. However, Rydia was doing her best to keep him distracted.

"What's that giant turtle?" she asked, pointing to a large gray one which they all three could have ridden on comfortably.

"Uh, that's one of the monsters," he said. There was a strumming of his harp as he attempted to attack it. "The giant tortoise crawls through the desert sands, hiding underground when the snows fall. That's part of the monster lore song I know."

"Oh, okay." Rydia then brought her hands together and chanted her spell for Ice 1. A flurry of glittering ice crystals swirled and slashed at the giant turtle's gray shell, causing it to howl in pain. "Then how does your harp attack monsters?"

Another chord sounded and an Imp screeched before being dissolved into dust. "It's magic, actually. I use the music to focus my magic, like you use words. What's with all the questions, Rydia?"

She laughed, making Cecil smile. "Because I want to know about stuff!" She recited Ice 1 again, finishing off the giant turtle monster. "Hey Cecil, how're you…?" she turned and saw him. "Cecil?"

While they had been dealing with a pack of Imps, and then the giant turtle, Cecil had been fighting other groups. Edward turned and saw the carnage. "Oh my word…"

Cecil glanced back at the traces of fallen Basilisks, giant turtles, strange spirit Weepers, and dozens of Imps. "I could have cleared the cave faster with the power as the Captain of the Red Wings," he said dismissively. "But any other monsters should steer clear of us in here. Let's get down to the Antlion."

Edward looked to him with a mix of respect and fear (as many people saw him) and said, "Y-yes, let's."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the days of the overpowered RPG protagonist...


	4. Fabul Forests

Yang stood on the dirt path, looking at the trees around him. Darkness shrouded the trees in eerie mystery. He knew these lands and he knew the dangers. Even though he knew what he should expect, things had been different the past year. It had happened slowly, almost to the point where one didn't notice from day to day. But the wild monsters of the world had become increasingly violent, to the point where it wasn't safe for citizens to travel.

Normally, he'd be fine by himself and would keep walking through the night. If he had been with the group he left with, Yang would have had his men keep moving. Those men were dead now and he was traveling with a group of foreigners. While it was vital that they get to Fabul Castle as soon as possible, it wasn't considerate to some of them.

Whatever monster that had been out here was in hiding again. Yang walked back to the campsite by a different route, noting territorial marks on trees, scuff marks from battles, and other such markers of recent activity. Something had a regular patrol route along here, so he would have to watch for that one to return. In the past, he would have been confident that the campfire would keep monsters away and their main worry would be human vagabonds. Not so now.

At the camp, he found the two girls still up. Rydia was listening to Rosa tell stories. The latter was alert, looking in his direction when he emerged from the trees. On the other hand, the younger one was partly leaning on her. She yawned.

"You ought to get some sleep so you can make it to the castle tomorrow," Yang said as he came around.

She looked spooked at his voice, but calmed down on seeing him enter the light of the fire. "I'm okay," she mumbled. "I can help watch for monsters too."

"You have to stay really alert, like I told you," Rosa said, brushing down the girl's green hair. After Rydia tried to look that way, she added, "Are you scared of nightmares?"

Rydia shook her head, her eyes starting to close again. "Mm-mm, no. I have them, but I know they're not bad ones."

Yang raised his eyebrows, surprised to hear that out of a child. "Yours aren't bad?"

"Well they're scary, but they're not bad." She put her head on Rosa's shoulder, so the young woman wrapped her arm around her. "I know Cecil has much worse ones, even though you don't ever hear him cry. I know because the darkness talks to him, and he can't hear it, but I can."

Yang took another log and shifted it into the fire, working to keep it steady. "It can't be too effective if he can't hear it."

"No, it's worse when you can't hear the voices," Rydia said. "Because then you don't know when you're listening to them." Then she yawned again.

"That could explain some of how he's changed lately," Rosa said. It was obvious from her tone and downcast face that this had been a burden of concern for her in the recent past. "He's been trying to detach himself from others, even me, but that's just not how he is."

"So that he doesn't hurt anyone?" Yang asked. "I hear that it's simple to take up the dark sword arts, but that it is difficult to turn away."

"I would help him in any way that I could if he chooses to do that," she said. She glanced down and saw that Rydia had her eyes closed. "I'm not sure what's holding him back since the reason he became a dark knight is gone now that he's gone against Baron."

"He's obviously had much experience as the dark knight. It may be that he hasn't had the time to train in a different style." Now that the fire was going well again, the monk stood up. "You can go to sleep yourself if you want. I can handle a watch on my own."

Rydia murmured, but too indistinct to understand.

"I'm going to make sure that she stays asleep," Rosa said. "But I'll stay up with you. Better two eyes to guard then one, right?"

He nodded. "If you want."


	5. Ocean

"Why do ya keep playing the same song? Don't you know anything else?"

"Hmm?" Edward put his hands on the frame of his harp, disrupted from his playing. "Oh, sorry. I try to vary it enough so that it isn't repetitive. It's a spell to keep monsters at bay." Since he was stopped anyhow, he laid the harp on his lap and checked over his fingers. Long bouts of playing would make his hands hurt later.

The sailor raised his eyebrows. "Really? We were thinkin' that it was a strangely quiet trip. Well thanks, your highness."

Your highness… ruler of a dead kingdom. Edward looked down at his harp. "You're welcome. I'll take a short break and then get back to it." He got up to get something to drink.

Overhead, the sails were billowing full. They had taken a somewhat roundabout way to head towards Baron, but the captain assured them that they were following trade winds to get there fastest. The air had the scent of the ocean, and the feel of its great power. No matter how fast the Devil Road trails were, travel by sea was still a wonder. And then there was travel by air…

…just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, three bright red airships passed overhead. Explosives rained down on the castle. The Baron ships didn't care if their soldiers were still in here? For a moment, Edward thought it was the end…

But it hadn't been the end. Edward shivered a bit as he went below deck. He did not want to try flying at any point soon.

On his way down, another member of the crew passed by and gave him a nod of respect. It was the respect that people gave royalty. Over the past year, Edward had noticed such things. When he traveled around as an ordinary bard, people treated him differently. Not bad, but different. Now that he was recognized as the last member of the Damcyan royal family, he was treated with great courtesy. Even if he was possibly the only person left from Damcyan at all. Sure, there was Keipo, but the oasis town was highly capable of being independent of the castle.

It still made him uncomfortable. If only he'd been an ordinary bard instead of a prince hiding as a bard. Or if he'd been like his father and his grandfather, and like the other men of his family. They had been great warriors, capable of defending the Damcyan Kingdom from any threats. If he had been like that, he would have been able to fight off Baron's invasion force as well, perhaps even turning the tide.

But he wasn't like them and there was no point in wishing otherwise. He remembered an uncle who had often teased that Edward was the natural result of a series of queens chosen because they had been beautiful damsels who'd gotten in trouble, been rescued by adventurous princes, and proceeded to fall in love with said princes. Eventually, there had to be a Damcyan prince who took more after the damsels than the princes.

He got down to the mess hall to find Rydia in the kitchen area with the ship's cook. The girl smiled and waved at him. "Hi Edward! The cook's showing me how to make dinner with magic! Want some water? I just learned how to purify it."

"Sure, thanks," he said, taking a seat near the kitchen. Rydia then brought him some of the water she had worked on. It tasted flat, but the black mage working as a cook assured them that practice made the taste better.

Fifteen minutes later, Yang came in and asked Edward to come back on deck to play his monster repelling song again. "I can fight off a dozen of them by myself," the monk said. "But it's disrupting the crew."

"I'll be right up," Edward said. At least in that way, he knew he was being useful too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember monster encounters on ships in FF1, so either the FF4 ship is going too fast or this. Edward is an interesting character, but he's just not good while you have him in your party. Oh right, and my reference for the game is the PSX version, so these notes reflect that.


	6. Mysidia Coast

Cecil was alone.

The red blade Death swept through the air before decapitating a red Imp. It was so easy. Within this blade, there was a feeling of fate. To it, all were equal, and all were prey. What did it matter if he was alone? If he could attune himself to this weapon, it would keep such emotions from bothering him. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and attacked, killing another Imp.

What if that had been a human? He would have killed without a thought. Stumbling back in horror, Cecil realized that Rydia had been right. The darkness was talking to him and the sword Death just happened to be louder than anything else he had used. Perhaps he should throw it into the sea and try to find a way to get out of the armor without it killing him.

His right hand only clenched the handle tighter as a Cocatrice came diving at him, only to be skewered a second later. This was the power to do anything; this was the power to be fate, to be death. No one could stand against him if he stopped holding himself back and instead opened himself to the true power of the dark knight.

But he had seen what monsters could do with the power of darkness, and what he could do when restrained. That was terrifying enough, the ease with which the monsters on the beach were falling. And the ease he had in killing the Water Crystal's guardians, although they were powerful and well-trained magicians. If he kept fighting here, then the sands would turn red.

The sword was pleased with that thought.

Cecil ran, trying to avoid the rest of the monsters that had gathered. Had the power of the sword drawn them to him? He knew that one of the advanced skills of the dark knights was summoning monsters and making them do his bidding. And he knew that the dark magic could make the loss of the others more bearable. Doing so would sacrifice his ability to love anybody, even Rosa. He would truly not care for anything, only finding gratification in death. Cecil did not want that.

The sword wanted to kill him for that.

After some time, he lost track of the monsters. Where was he? He remembered seeing the great sea serpent Leviathan rising out of the mighty whirlpool and attacking the Fabul ship. They had been far from any land. First Rydia fell off the ship; Yang had dove in after her, but an attack on the ship kept Cecil from doing the same. Then the ship had cracked apart just before it was drawn helplessly into the whirlpool. Edward had gotten a terrible looking cut from splintering wood right before he had fallen into the sea, and then something had hit Cecil strong enough to make his armor vibrate audibly.

And then he woke up here, on a beach. There were some signs of the wreckage in broken wood, a battered crate, and some netting. But there was no one else on the beach, not even a corpse. Why had he drifted here alone? Were the rest all dead? That was most likely.

The sword gave out another alluring call to close his heart to such pain and open his mind to its power. But no. There was still Rosa and Cid. Somehow, he would find his way back to Baron and find out what had happened to them. Maybe even defeat Golbez himself. But if he did so, he wanted to hang onto his humanity, until his remaining friends were safe and he could find a way to get rid of the powers of darkness.

Cecil spotted a village up ahead, which gave him hope. People were scared of him due to the dark armor he wore, but he just needed directions to Baron. After some struggle, he managed to sheath Death so that he didn't go walking into a poor village with a bloody sword in hand.

As he got closer, he realized that he was approaching no ordinary village. This was Mysidia, the town he had invaded on the King's orders. Cecil's heart sank as he realized that not only was he far from home, but he was unlikely to find any help here.

And yet, he felt compelled to enter Mysidia anyways. If they did anything to them, perhaps it was only just.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though you find him second, Edward's still sick when you find him again. It could be like the game says, the prince's frailness compared to Yang's toughness. But something had to make him sick, so he probably got injured during the wreck.  
> I thought it was neat that Cecil ends up in the worst place possible for him after the wreck, where everybody hates his guts.


	7. Mysidia Forests

This mission was almost too easy: quick battles, lots of monsters to fry, plenty of practice. Palom twirled his Fire Rod around as he cast Bolt 2 at a Cocatrice. Immediately, it fell to the ground with a squawk and broke its neck. One at a time, they weren't bad. But a group of them, he couldn't be as awesome because mass spells lost power.

If he really was to be awesome, though, he should take out one of those Zuus in one spell. Those beasts were huge, able to gobble down a full-grown man in one chomp. But no matter what he tried, be it fire, ice, or thunder, he wasn't able to take one down in just one strike. Cecil, though, he could do that seemingly without trying by using that blood red sword.

Cecil…. It was kind of strange, but just yesterday, Palom had considered seeing to it that the dark knight died. The whole town of Mysidia had wanted the former leader of the Redwings dead. But then the most talented seer in town (and probably the world) had told the elder that the dark knight was returning to Mysidia. However, he would have no thoughts of malice; the seer even claimed that he had no feelings of malice when he had come for the Crystal.

Even from the best seer, no one in Mysidia wanted to believe that. The elder had asked what the dark knight wanted, and the seer said that his secret desire would be to pass the trial on Mt. Ordeal, in order to become a paladin. Again, it had seemed unbelievable. So, the elder had formed a plan to send Cecil to Mt. Ordeal, but with some spies to watch him. The spies had to be powerful enough to handle Mt. Ordeal, good enough to appear trustworthy, and sly enough to render the dark knight helpless if the visions turned out to be false.

So of course, the elder had chosen Palom to go with the dark knight. The boy wonder, the best black mage in the lands, and the coolest kid around, Palom! And his sugar sweet twin sister Porom, her too. All this before the dark knight even arrived. Palom had made up dozens of plans of how to become a hero by getting revenge against Baron's dark knight!

He wasn't so sure now, though. True, Cecil had that sword out more often than not and he was slaughtering the monsters that dared to cross their paths. His darkness was very strong. But unexpectedly, Cecil's inner light was strong too. The two forces struggled epically, almost enough to cause sparks. Maybe that one legend was really coming true.

Cecil was a cool guy. One time, he had grabbed Palom and yanked him aside. He had wanted to yell, but then a flurry of sharp needles flew right through the spot he had been in. Somehow, a Swordrat had snuck up on him, only seen by Cecil. And he did not hesitate to get right in a monster's face in order to distract it from him and his sister. He was like an awesome hero, like what Palom was going to be recognized someday for.

And he did not boast about anything. Somehow, that made him even cooler.

But he could still stab them in the back right when we trust him, Palom told himself. He smirked as he prepared Ice 2 to strike the next monster on the path. He was just five and his story had only begun. No way was some loser dark knight going to ruin his hero career right before it started!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would rather not meet a five-year-old who can cast spells. It'd be dangerous when they threw a tantrum.


	8. Mt. Ordeal 1

The light was so strong that looking in the mirror was blinding. Yet his reflection was dark. Not just the blood-stained abrasive prison of an armor that he had lived in since accepting the power of the dark knight. No, there was a dark aura surrounding him, dark as shadows, harsh as death.

The magic of the dark knight went on the defensive, drawing the sword of Death and pointing it at the mirror. In the reflection, it was dripping with blood. In his mind, it was howling in fury and agony at the power of the light. That howl battered him with pain.

Also in the reflection, there was a second sword. This one had a white blade with a gold-colored handle. That sword emitted light, but also emitted a feeling of self-sacrifice, strict honor, and compelling duty. Even though his sense for magic wasn't the best, Cecil could tell that if that sword rejected him, it would literally burn him.

Were his sins too much?

When that doubt nearly caused him to step back, nearly made him certain of failure, a warm presence touched his soul. It was that voice, the one who had called him son. Somehow he knew that was the truth, even if it didn't make sense. Why would his father's ghost be here?

Make your choice. Keep the blade of Death and embrace its power fully. Or take the blade of Legend and give up all the power you have gained to start over.

And don't let the whispers of either obscure the true desires of your heart.

The struggle between the dark and the light was enough to make his hands tremble, causing him to look uncertain. Trying to block them out, Cecil considered what he really wanted. He wanted to rescue Rosa. He wanted to find out what had happened to Kain and if there was any way to help him. He wanted to make all this warfare unnecessary, to make it so that the tragedies of Mysida, Mist, and Damcyan would not be repeated. He wanted to see a world where children like Rydia didn't suffer as much as she had. He wanted to make amends for the suffering that he had inflicted.

He wanted to know why the world was changing and what could be done so that it did not end up in more destruction.

And the power of darkness couldn't help him do that. Cecil found the willpower to force the sword Death down so that he could step towards the mirror. Just past its surface, the white sword hovered. Or, did it? Were things really as they seemed in this chamber? The light was so powerful that it might be hiding something. He reached out with his left hand to touch the other sword.

Without effort, his hand passed right through the surface. He heard some quiet words from the twins behind him, but didn't listen. Cecil clasped the paladin's sword and brought it out.

For a moment, it did make his arm feel like it was burning. But that was his choice, and if it would test him, he would endure it. He dropped the sword Death instead. The light grew brighter, blindingly bright.

There was not a clatter. Instead, Death picked itself up and floated in front of him just as the sword Legend had seconds ago. The power of light then filled his body, still burning. The dark armor tried to keep hold on him. It had claimed him; it did not want to give up easily. Silently, he told the armor that he wanted to be rid of it, forever.

The light burst outward, tearing the armor off his body. The dark magic was ripped out too, weakening him to the extent that he fell onto his knees. For a moment, he thought he'd lost hold of the sword Legend. He tightened his grip and found that it was still there. The presence of his father came back to him and Cecil found that although the dark armor was gone, he was not left unprotected. He now had a much lighter armor, not as constraining and permanent as the suit. And he had a tan cape, made with mystical runes to improve its defensive capabilities. When he put his hand on his head, he found that instead of a fully covering helmet, he now had the crown of a paladin.

It's not quite over.

Looking up, Cecil saw that his old armor had joined the sword Death. It took the weapon and pointed it in their direction. Not him, but Porom, Palom, and Tellah behind him. And it made to attack them.

Despite having his sword in his off-hand, Cecil got up and blocked the dark armor from attacking the others. His body ached from the conflict of magic, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain as best he could. The others called out and came over to help, but he told them to stay back.

This was his battle; he had to defeat his own darkness.


	9. Mt. Ordeal 2

"BURN, you undead minions of Milon!" Great leaping flames from Fire 2 whirled up all over the mountainside.

"PALOM!" Porom had been restraining herself, but this made her want to crack her staff over her brother's head. "Don't go calling him back."

The boy glanced back at her, with magic taking care of some of the zombies (and Cecil handling the rest). "Him? But he's dead-dead. We killed him twice. Any more would be overkill."

The girl sighed. Boys… she'd been letting him get all excited because it was an amazing time. They had seen someone actually succeed at the paladin trial, and the Sage Tellah had managed to learn Meteo. Since it was only natural that Palom would be asking all sorts of questions of the Sage and seeing Cecil as a hero, she had let him do so for a little bit. But good magicians did not go acting like some raving pyromaniac on a monster infested mountain.

Not helping matters much, Tellah chuckled. "Oh, don't underestimate the undead. They're too dumb to know when to stop."

"Sometimes I think someone else is that way," Porom said.

"Really?" Palom asked. "Who?"

Just as she was going to give him an 'are you an idiot?' look, he winked at her. So he'd happily accept that insult. She should have expected as much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many zombies on that mountain!


	10. Waterway

The beast observed him with unreadable eyes. Yang observed it too: low stance, reptilian, tough scales, meat-ripping teeth, powerful muscles. For a moment, it was still. This monster was an animal, wanting to defend its territory. Yang was about to tell the others that if they put this crocodile and others like it to sleep, they could possibly get through here without trouble.  
And then a voice came through the air, something understandable and yet inhuman. "Cagnazzo compels you…"  
At that, a glint of madness appeared in the crocodile's eyes. It lunged at him, forcing Yang to leap up and onto the creature's back. The crocodile then jerked again, trying to knock him off balance. Instead, Yang dropped down, grabbing it behind its front legs. It struggled, but he flipped with it, leaving it to struggle in the air. Then he tossed it into one of the waterway's walls, stunning it briefly.  
A jolt of electricity shot through the crocodile, knocking it out. "Hey man, we can't help you if you're that close to the monster!" Palom called out.  
Yang got back onto his feet. "These creatures are animals driven mad by some power," he said. "We ought to avoid killing them if possible. Tellah, who is Cagnazzo?" Even though the old Sage was a bit forgetful, perhaps he knew. Yang would count on him knowing more than the two children, even if they were talented.  
"I heard the voice too," Tellah said, running his fingers along his beard. "Cagnazzo… it is the Fiend of Water, a devil who commands monsters and wild animals. And we've encountered Milon too. If the four Fiends are back in the world, that explains why these days are more dangerous than before. Then the question becomes, who unsealed them and why?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, there's nearly no discussion of the four Fiends in the game, except maybe in the last parts. If this was a later FF game, I'm sure their presence would get discussion, even just a few lines.  
> And Yang vs crocodile is awesome, so awesome that I made it the lighthearted tag for this story!


	11. Baron Castle

Their footsteps on the stone pavement echoed throughout the courtyard. Ordinarily, there would be servants running errands, knights discussing missions, nobles socializing… all kinds of noise, life, and bustle. Now there was no one. The flags flapped in the winds overhead, but only the five of them made any other sounds.

"Not as exciting as I thought a castle would be," Palom noted in disappointment.

"It's much too quiet," Cecil said, concerned. "We should have run into someone by now. And there's something that feels… I'm not sure, intensely hateful? I don't know if I'm imagining things or not."

Porom, who had seemed tense ever since they came into the castle moat, finally spoke up. "There's a power of darkness hanging in the air. Maybe even death. You can probably sense such things now that you're a paladin."

There were no signs of a fight or a struggle. No blood, and no damage to the surroundings. But yes, there was something like the power of the sword Death around them. "I hope we can find someone to explain things soon."


	12. Troia Jungle

On a tip from several people in Troia Village, Cecil, Yang, Tellah, and Cid trekked north through the thick jungles in order to find Chocobo Village. They were constantly being attacked by the native creatures, driven mad by the power of the Fiends. Wild cats, Stingrats, more imps… they all emerged from the trees to attack the group.

Cid was knocking out monsters with the heaviest tool he had on hand, a large hammer. "These critters are just pouring out of the shadows, aren't they?" he said, pushing aside an unconscious spiked rodent. "It's taken us twice as long to get anywhere on land than it should."

"It's been like this for the past year," Cecil said. "You haven't been outside the castle lately."

"It's good for training, but then you have to train harder," Yang added.

"There's a clearing just ahead," Cecil said, looking back towards the rest. "It should be the place."

A few minutes later, they were standing in a large grassy meadow. It was a pretty and idyllic place, one that was easy to feel comfortable in. Due to a magic barrier, none of the crazed monsters came here. Instead, there were large numbers of chocobos strolling about, interacting with each other and watching the four men. They seemed wary, though, and scurried away quickly when approached.

"So how're we supposed to get four of these birds to cooperate?" Cid asked. He had been unhappy to discover that the Dark Elf's cavern was on an island that was impossible to land an airship on, due to being thick jungle. To himself, he made a mental note to address that problem in his next design.

"It certainly smells like chocobo around here," Yang said.

Tellah put a hand to his chin. "Smell? Oh, right! We may need some help, and I think I have just the thing. I knew I had to buy them for some reason." He reached into his bag and pulled out a stem with many green leaves. A spell kept it from drying out. "Gyshal Greens."

At that point, a shadow appeared overhead, causing the three others to back off and get ready to grab their weapons. Then a chocobo dropped out of the sky and landed beside them with a ground-shaking thump. No ordinary chocobo, it was over twice the size of the others, with a body like a huge ball. "What is that?" Cecil asked, not sure if this would be some monster chocobo.

"A Fat Chocobo," Tellah said, stating the obvious while he handed the Greens to it. "They're the leaders, so to speak. Good to make your acquaintance, Fat Chocobo."

"Hiiiiii," he responded, smacking his beak as he looked over the herb.

"They talk?" In all his time traveling, Cecil had never run into a talking chocobo before.

The Sage shrugged. "To an extent. Pardon our intrusion, but we were hoping to borrow some black chocobos to go up to the Dark Elf's cavern to the northeast."

Looking over them, the Fat Chocobo patted his chest with his wing. "Daaaannnggeeeerrr."

"We know," Tellah said. "I've got some Gyshals for the blacks to make up for it. And another for you if you would like." He brought out a second leafy stem.

Eyes widening, the Fat Chocobo chuckled and took it. "Goooood. Caaaarrreeefuuul." He then whistled to the others, getting four blacks to come over, looking expectant.

Cecil smiled, then bowed to the leader. "Thank you."

Cid looked at the chocobo nearest to him with suspicion. It looked back, curious. "I don't know about flying with these guys," he said. "I know how airships work, and they're much bigger."

"Wark!" The chocobo snatched Cid by his shirt collar. While he yelped, the bird placed him on the back of another black.

The others there, human and chocobo, laughed. "I think they like you," Tellah said teasingly, giving a few leaves to the blacks. Cid just glared at him from the chocobo's back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to do something with Fat Chocobo; his theme gets stuck in my head even when I've not been playing the game.


	13. Dark Elf Cavern

Due to the strong magnetic field, the group's travel bag was far heavier than usual. But they took turns in sharing the load to get through the cave. Tellah even tried carrying it for a while, but his physical strength was nothing like that of the other three.

Also because of the magnetism, Cecil had to switch over to using a bow and much lower quality armor. This turned out to be a good thing, as there were an excessive number of vampire bats around that were taken down quicker with arrows. Then again, he'd gotten knocked out by one of the massive ogres that lived here. His back still felt sore from that punch.

Something dangerous was right above him.

Right as Cecil notched an arrow, a pair of sickly purple hands reached down and grabbed him. "Let go!" he called, trying to jerk himself free.

"I'd rather not," a sultry female voice said. He found himself face to face with a strange creature that had the head and torso of a naked woman. But further up, there was something repulsive and hairy attached to the ceiling. "You're too pretty to let go."

"Cecil!" Yang called out. He then asked something of the others, probably how to get him down as he was now twenty feet off the pathway. All around, there were deep crevices; who know how far he'd fall if she tossed him down there.

"Don't listen to her!" Cid added. "That's a Vamp Girl, she'll…"

The Vamp Girl stretched her wings out in such a way that Cecil couldn't hear the rest of that statement clearly. "I've never seen a man of such light come through here," she said, pulling him closer. "Want to see how wonderfully I can corrupt you?" She giggled, licking her lips.

Although something about her words stirred parts of his mind, he shut those feelings out quickly. He was here to save Rosa. "No," he said sternly, dropping his bow. With that gone, he took hold of her arms and used that to pull himself up and knee-kick her in the back.

She laughed. "Oh, you're going to be a tough nut to crack," she teased, then lightly kissed him on the chin.

Cecil didn't know any attack spells, so he had to rely on only himself. He tried thrashing to get her to lose her grip, but even another kick to her shoulders didn't do anything but make her laugh. As he relaxed a moment to come up with another plan, a look of pain crossed her face before she shrieked and let him go. Cecil let go of his grip and shifted to absorb the impact of the fall. The Twin Harp at his side jangled loudly, but didn't break.

Once he was down, Tellah sent a fire spell at the Vamp Girl, killing her off. Cid handed back his bow. "You all right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. let's get moving in case there's another one about."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those bats and Vamp Girls are annoying. Especially since your black mage at this point is Tellah, and he's slow.  
> On my reference play for this series, I trudged my way through here with Cecil having a staff. When I realized that the bats were weak to projectiles, I wished I had given him a bow.


	14. Troia Castle

His harp twanged.

Edward looked over at it, sitting on a table. It was out of his reach, as the doctor didn't want him doing much. When he'd been found, he had been wandering around the Troia Jungle, delirious with fever. It had been a near miracle that he hadn't drowned or been torn apart by monsters. They said that he wouldn't let his harp go at first.

For the past couple of days, his harp had been randomly making notes, like when he was traveling and had it at his side. That would be the power of the Twin Harp, an enchanted instrument that caused a second harp to play with it in tandem. He could hear the words of others coming from it. Cecil was the clearest, as he was keeping the actual Twin Harp. A little while ago, Edward had been startled awake thanks to a loud jangle on his harp. Apparently Cecil had gotten in trouble, but had gotten out of it.

But this time, it wasn't the usual traveling notes. This time, his harp was playing the resonance of a strong source of magic. He heard something similar in the past, whenever he brought his harp near the Crystal of Fire in Damcyan Castle. They were near the Crystal of Earth, which meant they had to be near the Dark Elf.

Sure enough, a musical but grating voice came through his harp.

It was time. Edward pushed himself off the bed and got onto his feet. Immediately, his head became light and blurry. He grabbed onto the bedpost for support. Once he had his balance, he took a few steps over to the table. The injury he'd gotten in the shipwreck began to throb painfully. He tried to ignore it, but then he stumbled; that made his head swirl again and he fell onto the floor.

"Edward!" The doctor came over, grabbing hold of him. She sounded concerned and slightly angered. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I know," he said, letting her help him back up. "But they're fighting the Dark Elf…"

"Your friends that were here a couple days ago?" she asked, guiding him back to bed.

The harp made a particularly harsh chord. Edward looked over to it, even as he was made to sit down. "Them; can't you hear it? I need my harp. They need my help."

She considered it, then nodded. "All right, but stay in bed." The doctor got the harp, then brought it to him.

"Thank you," he said, then got ready to play. His harp wasn't badly damaged despite all he'd been through. In traveling around, he had found out early that his instrument needed spells of preservation if he was going to use it in battle.

When he put his fingers on the strings, he found that he could imagine the scene clearly. The Dark Elf had made it so that he enhanced the cave and the cave enhanced him. This caused his spells to have immense power, which was quickly destroying Cecil and the others. If they could have their normal equipment, they should be able to handle the fight. The magnetic fields kept that from being possible.

Time to see if that song worked against strong elves as it did the weak. The strings were humming as the Twin Harp was resonating with the Earth Crystal. But when he played his harp, he was also able to play the Twin Harp. The sound of his melody filled the castle infirmary, and the Dark Elf's chamber. And its magic vibrated through his body. Normally he could feel the magic of his song spells, but with his body weakened, it felt almost like someone was playing him like an instrument.

But it broke through the Dark Elf's enchantments. He would keep playing until they defeated that monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In that playthrough, Dark Dragon was the first thing that killed my whole party. I couldn't keep up on healing and he got lucky. And I know, this is a major scene, but I love it. Edward could be made into an awesome character with his story, but the fact that he's a weak character in a video game holds him back. So yeah, Edward's one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters.  
> But Cecil's my absolute favorite for the whole series!


	15. Tower of Zot

Cid was fascinated by the Tower of Zot. The way it was constructed was like nowhere else he had been, with materials that he wasn't sure what they were. When they first entered a new floor, it would be dark and then various rods would light up, putting out a brightness that was like the midday sun. All without the smell of smoke and oil as many torches and house lamps put out.

But once the lights came on, the monsters came out. Sometimes they were little Dark Imps, nimble with their knives but not much of a threat. Sometimes they were large Chimeras, great multiheaded beasts that were tough to take down. And then there were the human enemies, warriors and wizards of both genders who fought to destroy the 'invaders'.

"They're under mind control, all of them," Tellah said as he healed Yang of a long slash across his chest. "Their eyes look darker than normal people, that's the most common sign. They'll also show no expression in the eyes, sometimes even not in their face and voice if they're not under direct control. And as much as you'd like to help them, they won't be able to shrug off the compelling magic."

Yang carefully touched the area near where the wound had been; the flesh looked whole from where Cid was. "Then they'll keep attacking even past when a reasonable person would?" When the Sage affirmed that, he looked grim. "They could be innocent people. And I think I recognized a few of them as traveling warriors who passed through Fabul at one time or another."

"That's entirely possible," Tellah said. "Several of the witches and mages seemed familiar to me."

"One would think that Golbez would have told them that he brought us here," Cecil said. He'd been especially bothered when the humans started attacking them.

"Unless that rat ****** is trying to make us waste time in reaching where Rosa is," Cid pointed out. Which meant that as interesting as the Tower of Zot was, they didn't have time to investigate how things worked.

"Right," Cecil said, a determined edge in his voice. But although he kept the group moving forward, he seemed to be thinking still. "Tellah, you said they act without expression if they're not under direct control. Can they be made to act normal? Because Kain was acting strange, but he looked right at me and definitely was defiant. And his eyes didn't seem right either, but he wouldn't let me get close enough to tell properly."

"Hmm…" they kept moving and started up another staircase before he answered. "There is method of hypnosis that allows the user to lower a victim's moral guard. Normally, you would look at an action and think, 'that isn't right and I shouldn't do that', but those hypnotized in that manner don't think that objection, so they can be encouraged to act on the worst parts of their nature. From what you've told me and what I've seen, I would suppose that Kain is under that influence."

"I see. How could we break that influence?" Cecil arrived at the next door and quickly had his sword at ready. Just past the door in the newly lit area, four swords were pointed back.

"You would have to break the influence," he answered, while the fight started. "Which means… that's another reason to get to Golbez soon and ruin his plans."

The battle on that floor was over as soon as Tellah cast his next spell, allowing them to get to the top faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fighting the Magus Sisters boss, I didn't have much trouble. Fighting Valvalis, nobody died. Getting back attacked by a pair of EpeeGirls and Sabermen? Total party kill. Yet another instance where the randoms are deadlier than the bosses.


	16. Underworld

Rydia may have had the body of a young woman, but her mind still seemed child-like. She smiled up at Cecil with adoration as if he'd been her own father. "Aw, why won't you hold Rosa's hand?"

"Well there's giant black lizards and fire-breathing armadillos all over the place," Cecil pointed out, although in a light-hearted manner. "That and the fact that we're walking by a giant sea of glowing lava, it's not a particularly nice walk."

It was good to see Cecil being happier, Yang thought. He wasn't fully happy, though, as he often seemed thinking on serious matters. While he had gotten back three old friends in Rosa, Rydia, and Kain, there had been more that were still lost, like Porom, Palom, and Tellah. Plus those who could not join them like Edward.

Despite being pulled between such extremes, Cecil was not letting it overwhelm him. He kept moving forward to reach his goals. And he wasn't necessarily doing it for himself either. No, he kept thinking of others and worked to find the source of the problems that plagued the whole world. You didn't find people like that very often. It was the kind of person that people were inspired by and aspired to be, but most didn't have the moral strength to look past their own problems and be that selfless.

He was the kind of person that Yang had worked all his life to be. He had trained himself to be patient, polite, and strong, no matter what opposition he faced. And while many admired him, he felt like Cecil had gone even beyond that ideal somehow. Cecil managed to draw people to him and earn their friendship, seemingly with little effort. This worked even when he had been a dark knight, when he had managed to get assistance from the Mysidians, who hated Baron and Cecil specifically. How did one manage to learn that?

Yet, Yang would not be jealous. That was the path to ruin. No, he admired the paladin, and felt glad to have been drawn into his circle. That let him watch Cecil and try to learn what else he was doing to gain such a potent charisma. It was like what the best Fabul Masters were like.

On the other hand, he wondered about Kain. Part of it was because he had only seen the young dragoon under Golbez' mind control, when he'd been ruthless and strongly jealous of his friend. Maybe he had been restored, but those feelings surely lurked under the surface. He could use some training of the spirit, as all Fabul monks were required to do.

They were traveling together. While they had to keep an eye out for those strange creatures, Yang went over and struck up a conversation with Kain. If he could gain his trust, then they could work things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Armadillo enemies don't really breath fire. They just use normal attacks. But it was funnier to say 'fire-breathing armadillos' than not.


	17. Tower of Babil 1

"Confirming intruder status."

Kain clenched his spear, glaring at the strange object floating near him. It was round and made of metal, yet it stayed in the air with no apparent means to do so. While it had a single black eye on its form, it didn't seem to see that well. It kept near them and endlessly continued its monotone message.

"Confirming intruder status."

He was trying not to attack the thing. On the last floor, they had run into one and Kain had used his dragoon jump at it. Despite his power, it had not been enough to destroy the thing and it had wailed, drawing dozens of monsters out of the hidden passages of the Tower of Babil. That included a giant stone golem which had strength to threaten death to even Kain and Cecil in their heavy armors. While the group was split up to explore the floor faster, setting off one of the Alerts (for lack of a better name for the metal spheres) was not something he wanted to do.

"Confirming intruder status."

Still, it was massively annoying.

Yang put his hand on Kain's shoulder. "Have the patience of water," he said quietly. "Don't let small things change you; rather, work yourself around them and do not make things harder than they must be."

"Confirming intruder status."

It seemed like a wise thing to say. But that thing was so irritating that it was hard to think of how to work around it. For some reason, the monk seemed to like him and was trying to mentor him. Kain was the leader of Baron's dragoons, though, and didn't need a mentor. Still, he appreciated the thought. "Does part of your training deal with small annoying objects?"

"Confirming intruder status."

Yang smiled. "Yes, actually. Anger can be used as a weapon, but it must not be abused. Therefore, one should train ones mind to endure small annoyances."

"Confirming intruder status."

But once another monster attacked, the Alert screeched its warning to those in hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that, if the game had gone into anyone other than Cecil deeply, than having a partnership between Yang and Kain would be a good option. The latter has to deal with the issues that the 'hypnotizing' brainwash brought to the surface, while the former has lost many of his previous students to monsters just before you meet him. Unfortunately, it can't last long.


	18. Eblan Cave

A commotion greeted them when they got to the top of the stairs and turned the corner. There were two men dressed in the blue garb of Eblan's ninjas, one heavily injured and the other trying desperately to guard his peer despite his own wounds. Attacking them with mindless fury, there were a multitude of bats, six living skeletons, and a giant stone golem coming up slowly. That was a horrible position to be fighting in.

"Rosa, go help him," Cecil ordered, drawing his icy sword and taking down the nearest bat. "Rydia, help me with these bats; Kain, go get that Staleman before he gets over here and starts putting people to sleep."

Why was he giving orders? Kain briefly had that defiant thought before countering it quickly; it was the most reasonable strategy as the Staleman was slow moving but dangerous in range and he was the one who could reach it fastest. Calling on the power of the wind, he took a few running steps and then leapt high into the air. It used to be such an impressive power to him, the way the dragoons could very nearly fly to impale their enemies from above. Once he was using the Jump power on a regular basis, it always felt like he could do better.

He landed on the magic runes that were keeping the Staleman alive, breaking them and causing the golem to fall apart. As Kain landed in the rubble, he turned around to face a lagging brown bat and red skeleton. A quick impaling with his spear took care of the bat, but the skeleton would be tougher. It was harder to tell where to hit them to destroy the magic animating them.

Then there was a flash of red light as a large beast appeared. Ifrit roared, then dashed along with a wave of fire bursting out after him. Although Kain was by the path the summon spirit took, the flames completely evaded him. Rydia had destroyed the remaining monsters.

Kain came back to the group as the two Eblan ninjas were getting back to their feet. "The Prince went on ahead to avenge the death of his parents," one said. "We couldn't do much to help him, though."

Nodding, Cecil said, "All right, we're going that way. You ought to get back to the survivor's camp and help them scavenge for food. They need you."

"Yes sir," the ninjas said.

Even they recognized Cecil's authority? Kain often wondered how his friend got so lucky. He was an orphan, yet was taken in by King Baron. He had followed orders to become a dark knight, but was able to shed that curse to become a paladin, admired by all. And he had gotten Rosa' love…

Kain tried to clamp down on his feelings. They were what had allowed Golbez to manipulate him before and he did not want to become a monster once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you think about it, then yes, Cecil is highly lucky. And unlucky, given all that he has to go through to gain his 'lucky' rewards.  
> Staleman... what is up with that name? Is it made of old bread? Is it so dry that it easily puts everyone to sleep?


	19. Tower of Babil 2

Edge did not like to be seen losing his cool. He was the Prince of Eblan; he was supposed to be strong and in charge. And in the presence of two lovely ladies, he would really have to be on top of his game. He wasn't known as the most charming member of royalty for lack of effort, after all.

Yet it was really hard to get into that spirit now. Especially in this place, with the weird blue tiles, the unnatural glowing bars, the cold steel walls. Rubicant was in this tower, and he had killed Edge's parents. And for that, Edge would kill Rubicant, even if it killed him to do it.

That anger had to be kept at bay, until it was needed. Fighting with that intense hatred would give him power, but it could also lead to mistakes. That was one of his earliest lessons on the ways of his people. While it was good to be determined, he didn't want to be seen as foolish. Yet, he despised doing nothing about the enemy that had totally destroyed his kingdom.

But wasn't he acting foolish already? He recalled his fight with Rubicant which wasn't that long ago. He had failed utterly. The fiend had even brazenly said that Edge wasn't a worthy opponent yet. On hearing that, he was very nearly crushed in spirit. How could he fail to get vengeance for the death of his parents? But then this group had come along and offered him a second chance at revenge. This time, he would have to stay cool and collected right up until they came face to face with the Fiend once more.

Maybe acting as normal would help. He moved closer to the older girl, the white mage with long blond hair. "So, what's a lovely lady like you doing tromping around with this group?" he asked quietly, with a smile.

Rosa raised her eyebrows, then smiled. "Oh, I follow Cecil because I love him," she said. "I know he loves me too, but he's got to be protecting the whole group and I need to be free to do my magic. Someday, we'll have the time for each other."

Oo, so she was out of the game. Edge tapped his chest. "Ah, going into battle with your beloved. How romantic." And indeed, he liked a girl who could fight for herself better than one who couldn't. the one who couldn't would have to stay home, rather than adventure out to exotic lands. "Well pardon me for asking, but what about the other two?"

"Them? Well Kain's not attached to anybody, as far as I know, and we've been pretty good friends…" she trailed off and seemed sad.

Edge thought on it. Well if the dragoon wasn't attached to anyone, then did that mean he was out of the way for Rydia, or a possible rival for the green-haired girl's affections?

Rosa saw his gaze and poked him. "And Rydia, she's spent some time in the Land of Summons, so she doesn't look her age. Cecil and I remember her as the seven-year-old orphan she was when we first met her months ago." She put a finger to her lips. "So if you mean to play catch and release with her, then the both of us will knock some sense into you about not breaking her heart."

Chuckling, Edge replied, "Oh I see how it is. I suppose I'll have to be careful of you two then."

She nodded, then got a playful look on her face. "Right, and just so you know, there are these naked girl monsters around here that have giant snakes instead of legs.

That briefly got his mind entirely off of his loss. "Uh, what?"

"The lamias," she said. "They seduce people and then kill them in horrific ways, but not until the victim kills all of his friends. I wouldn't recommend thinking too much on romantic endeavors in here or this might all end in tragedy."

That was good to know… if really tantalizing and idiotic. Edge laughed. "I see what you mean. And I wouldn't argue against such wisdom, believe me."

"What's going on over there?" Cecil asked, looking back from watching an unmoving orange egg.

"We're just talking," Rosa replied in a cheery manner, as if she hadn't just been speaking of seductive sadistic monsters.

Edge decided to give him a salute. "You're a lucky man, Cecil."

He gave them a puzzled look, but then quickly focused back on the matter at hand, navigating the Tower of Babil. I suppose I should be as focused too, Edge thought. Then he would be worthy of his parents' legacy.


	20. Sylph Cave

Riibbiiit.

Rydia looked down the hall and saw a little pink toad on the floor. This place reminded her of the Land of Summons so much, especially with the strange floor that had many holes but was entirely sturdy. Smiling, she waved at the creature. "The toads are cute here," she said.

"You like my toads?" a girl's voice asked from the shadows.

"Who's down here?" Cecil asked, touching the handle of his sword. This place was rough, with the Malboros, extra tough Treants and Ghosts, not to mention the fact that they had to keep Float active or the floor itself would kill them.

"I like toads," the strange girl said. She came out into the hall, accompanied by several more toads, including one on her head. She wore a strange purple gown with runes in yellow. "They're small, and warty, and colorful, and they hop so cute. Toady toady toady toads." She hummed to herself.

"Strange lady," Edge said, putting his hand on the wall and checking something out.

"Can you tell us where we are?" Rosa asked. They had been flying around the underworld, having only been given vague directions to the Sealed Cavern. This didn't seem to be the right place.

The girl frowned. "You'll appreciate my toads, when you're like them! Riiibbiitt!"

Her toad entourage then began croaking in chorus too, putting them on the defensive. But then smoke puffs of magic came over them, transforming their bodies until they were little colored toads. "Ack, what happened to me?" Edge asked, although all that came out was croaking.

"The world is huge," Rydia said, looking up at the now massive cave and gigantic toad lady.

"I don't need to be a toad to appreciate them," Rosa said.

Squealing happily, the toad lady came over and snatched up the dark blue toad that Kain had turned into. "Oh, you're extra cute as a toad. I think I'll keep you like this as my special toad friend."

"I'd rather not," Kain said in croaks.

"Toad!" Rydia croaked out, transforming everyone back into humans. Kain and the toad lady wound up tripping over each other, falling onto the floor. "Oops, sorry Kain."

He got back up, keeping his spear on the toad lady. "No need to apologize as long as I'm back to being human."

"Toads, get them!" the strange girl yelled.

Riibbiiit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toad Lady is one of my favorite enemies. So much potential; it'd be a hilarious comedy to have her go off on her own adventure with her group of toads. And the fight's not dangerous; all she does is say 'Riibbiiit' while her toads cast Toad. It could be bad news if you somehow forget to turn someone back and run into a bunch of ghosts.


	21. Cave of Summons

The blue devil looked too bulky to be flying with those wings. But fly it did, launching attacks from just beyond their reach. Well, most of them. Rosa could hit it with her arrows, but she was too busy casting Cure spells. Kain had more time to jump up and attack them, as that was his best strategy. On colliding with the monster, they both crashed to the ground. The dragoon was able to land on his feet, but the monster was stunned long enough for Edge to finish it off.

The two of them were okay, and she had just fixed up Rydia, so Rosa next focused on Cecil. While he said earlier that he was fine, he had taken a number of the blows in the past few battles. She brought Cure 3 back into her mind. He was trying to move the group ahead, so she put her hand on his shoulder to let him know to hold still a moment. At that point, she realized just how badly hurt he was. His armor was doing too good of a job to hide it.

"Oh Cecil, you're just about ready to pass out," she said in concern. "You should have been more careful."

"I haven't broken anything vital, I think," he replied. He glanced at the others, then whispered, "I didn't want to worry you, but the two of you were in greater danger."

"Still, you should have told me you needed healing sooner," she whispered back.

"The monsters in here are really tough," Kain said, checking over his spear. "You came through here all by yourself, Rydia?"

She twisted her green hair in her fingers. "It wasn't this bad when I left. And I had Mist and Titan, and my other summons with me. They helped."

Kain seemed skeptical. "And crossed that giant sea of lava?"

"It's not that deep, really. Titan carried me across that."

At that point, Edge waved towards Kain, letting him know to stop being a sour puss. "Well I think that makes you one amazing girl, Rydia. Your beauty only makes you even more wonderful."

Rydia smiled shyly while Kain shook his head at the flirt. Rosa chuckled. "So, I suppose that means that a summoner would be tough enough to deal with anyone… even an overzealous guy?"

"Of course," the girl said, smiling wider.

Edge sniffed in mock indignation. "Well I won't deny being romantic, but I'm certainly not rude or crude about it."

"Is the town you mentioned nearby, Rydia?" Rosa asked, cutting off the topic. "We could all use a rest," she looked to Cecil, "especially you."

"Right, but we need to reach somewhere safe," he said.

Rydia nodded. "The teleport should be down this hall. And…"

A pair of shrieks interrupted her. Two monsters that were half giant spider and half possibly human had jumped onto their path, stomping and blocking their way. Cecil, Kain, and Edge all had their weapons at ready in seconds.

"These ones aren't too bad," she said. "They only have one attack." The earth shook violently to the Arachnes' spells. "And we're already protected with Rosa's Float."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arachenes look kind of neat, though I've seen the half-woman half-spider monster type elsewhere (Star Ocean 2 comes to mind). But yes, they dumbly cast GaiaRage when your whole team is under the Float effect. A nice break from the other monsters in the area.  
> On the subject of getting lost in the Underworld, you're told in the dwarven town that your goal is a cave to the northwest. Guess what? There's three caves that qualify as being northwest of that town and the two harder ones are completely optional. I always get lost here.


	22. Sealed Cavern 1

After getting badly sidetracked and lost, the group managed to locate the Sealed Cavern. It was a strange place, a cavern so empty and massive that no light or sound could reveal its walls. There were many red pillars with land platforms scattered among them, connected by staircase tunnels and ropes. Despite how dangerous the other two caverns had been, this one had normal non-deadly floors and far fewer monsters.

"This place isn't that bad," Edge said. "Nice and quiet, and the monsters aren't ones that would rip you apart."

"But then why did the dwarves tell us that the doors draw people in and they never come back?" Rydia asked. She had been scared by that particular rumor, as doors didn't seem like things that should be attacking people.

"They might be referring to the door at the entrance that's sealed," Cecil said, looking ahead. It seemed the only way down was through the white double doors ahead. "If anyone got past the seal, they might have a hard time coming back out." He went to push the doors open.

And the doors came to life, clamping onto his arm instead. Cecil braced himself while someone in the group called his name in alarm; he looked for a way to get out of its grip. If he could shove the doors further open, he might be able to pull back his arm. But then crazed eyes opened up on each door and the edges became jagged like teeth. The door opened its teeth itself, but then a strange energy took hold of him and pulled him further in to get chomped by the scenery.

Immediately, Kain rammed the doors with his spear, causing them to shake and growl. The monster tried to snap his spear away, but he pulled back before it could. "Kain, don't get too close," Rosa said, trying to hold back her alarm.

"I know," he said, still watching the door. A sword flew by him and got lodged under one of the eyes. Thinking that Edge might have the right idea, Kain attempted to stab the other eye. But his spear only hit wood. Not a real eye, then.

"Titan!" Rydia called. Guessing at what she would do, Kain sidestepped out of the way of a bronze-skinned muscular giant that wore little but what could barely be called shorts. "Knock down that door!"

Titan gripped his fist, then stepped forward to punch right through the demonic door. It shattered into splinters, which smoked before fading out of existence. In its place, they found Cecil on the floor. It was hard to tell if he was breathing. Knowing they had to act quickly, Kain snapped, "Edge, stay back and make sure nothing sneaks up on us while I make sure the way ahead is clear. Rosa, see how he is and what you can do." He stepped past his friend, looking around for any monsters ahead. He saw another set of white doors, but no immediate threat.

Inside, he worried about Cecil as the two woman hurried over to check on him. it might have been all right if Kain died here. After all, Cecil was certainly strong enough to carry on. But his friend was also the one leading them and holding the group together. He had made allies out of a great many people, while Kain had more enemies than he had before. If Cecil fell now, could they stand a chance against Golbez?

I couldn't, an insecure little thought quietly said into his mind. But with Cecil here, he believed that he had a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When architecture attacks! The Trapdoors actually cast Dimension on you, which is like X-Zone in later games. But from the looks of their battle sprites, it seems more like they would eat you.


	23. Sealed Cave 2

If the monster doors were dangerous, then this wall was pure evil. Extending out of its white stone was a deformed giant skeleton, shrieking at them and throwing bones with terrifying strength. It advanced on them steadily while a magic force field kept them from reaching the bridge and exit to this level safely. The ceiling here was too low for Kain to use his Jump magic, and if this took too much longer, they would all be crushed or thrown down the abyss.

Rydia had insisted on going off to one end of the battlefield on her own, which Edge had not liked. Cecil didn't like it either, but the prince had been the one to yell at her for it. Now she was surrounded by the great sea serpent Leviathan, leaving no room if anyone else had been near her. The King of all summon spirits snarled and shot blasts of water at the wall, trying to break it apart with the rest of them.

And then Kain had rushed forward, jamming his spear into the wall and putting a large crack in it. His spear stuck, leaving him in range of the skeleton's lethally sharp arm blades. Feeling a rush of fear, Cecil followed after, jumping up and deflecting the arm blade before it decapitated the dragoon.

"What are you doing here?" Kain hissed, getting his spear free. "You're the important one around here; you can't die in this cave." He then clashed weapons with the skeleton in the wall to prevent it from slicing them both.

"I've lost too many friends in this year," Cecil said back, quick but quiet so the others didn't overhear. He slashed at the rib bones, then added, "I'm not going to let my oldest friend die before he has a chance to redeem himself to the world, and before he finds the will to forgive himself."

For a brief moment, this shocked Kain. Cecil had been the one to take on the sword of the dark knight only because King Baron told him to. And it probably hadn't even been Baron at that point, instead being the Fiend Cagnazzo. But now, he would forgive the darkness in Kain? After all that he had done while his morals had been suppressed…

A flash of movement gave him the sign to pay attention to the battle and block the evil wall's blades before he got killed. "Are you with me?" Cecil asked.

Kain nodded. "Of course."

And Baron's two finest knights struck the wall and caused it to crumble into dust.

…

That familiar feeling like his mind was being melted. Kain hadn't expected it the first time, and he certainly didn't expect it now. Although maybe he should. Golbez's magic words tried to cause him to lock down and be obedient again.

He could hear the voices of his friends as he resisted. He couldn't do this; he couldn't hurt Cecil and Rosa, and Rydia, again. This time, he was going to make them proud. To be a hero like his father and his friend. Even to forgive himself.

"Your will to fight is amusing, but I can't have that," Golbez said into his mind.

The dark magic then took control over deeper parts of Kain's mind. This time, any feelings of friendship and love were cut off from his thoughts. When he looked back up at Cecil, he felt nothing but the orders of Golbez to take the Dark Crystal by any means necessary. It was like all light had been forcibly shut off in his soul.

"I'm all right," Kain said, feeling strangely hollow but obedient. "He has no hold over me anymore."

Meaning Cecil…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The five character cap really gets annoying in the game. Especially here, when Golbez just comes in... well, he doesn't come, but he speaks to you from the Tower of Babil (presumably) and goes 'ha ha, Kain is mine and you can't stop me' and then Kain mugs Cecil. But I think what happens in this story is plausible, taking into account limited graphics and no VA.  
> You don't ever seen Kain under this brainwashing instance past his line about how Golbez is going to use the crystals to go to the moon for great power. So it is possible that Golbez used a stronger form of mind control and couldn't send Kain out on his own reliably. During the first time, Kain does show quite a dark personality by always offering to go fight Cecil. A robotic personality wouldn't be able to pass as normal.  
> The Evil Wall boss sticks in my mind above many of the other bosses in the game. Except maybe Zeromus. It's an evil wall in a dungeon that has carnivorous doors! But to make it more awesome-sadistic, Sealed Cavern should have had the glowing floor tiles of death and Ceiling Wallmasters (from LoZ). That would make the dungeon architecture truly more dangerous than the randoms.


	24. Moonscape

The moon was certainly a strange place. Rydia had wondered what would be up here ever since it became apparent that Golbez' goal was on one of the moons somewhere. Would there be white trees and strange animals? Would there be fairies and other spirits? Or would it be something beyond even her imagination?

Instead, it was a rather barren. There was brown and gray from horizon to horizon. There were craters everywhere, making the ground cracked and pocked. At the highest points, there were large gray plateaus where nothing could be seen save for valleys, rock spires, and that palace. That was the lone building on this moon, although there seemed to be a number of caves about.

The palace looked magnificent enough to make up for the disappointment in the rest of the lunar landscape. It seemed to be made of pure diamond crystals, sparkling and shining in the harsh light. When they were at the right position, they could see a reflection of blue, white, and green, an image of the Earth which hung in the sky like a beautiful orb. Rydia couldn't wait to see what it was like inside, but the ground outside was too rough for even the Lunar Whale airship to land. They had to find their way through a maze of overworld and underworld passages.

On the path to the next cave, the four explorers were stopped by four black sludge monsters. They rose out of the ground and threatened in gurgling voices. Edge unsheathed one of his swords. "These guys are on the moon too? They're weaklings."

"Edge, they can't be damaged by physical attacks," Cecil said, going into a more defensive position.

"Who said I was gonna attack them with swords?" he replied with a smirk. One of the sludge monsters than hurled a wad of black goo at him. The ones on Earth might have been weaklings, but this one knocked him out in one blow.

These ones were especially dangerous, but Rydia didn't feel scared. She felt angered as she raised her hand to them. Those monsters would pay. In a second, great blasts of fire exploded from them, roasting them into brittle shells which broke apart.

"Nice work with that fire spells," Rosa complimented, kneeling down to make sure nothing was wrong that couldn't be fixed with curative magic. "You've come a long ways with those."

Rydia came over to her, checking on Edge herself. "Ifrit helped. But, um, don't tell him I reacted like that, please?"

"Why not?" Cecil asked, watching the space around them.

"I'd be embarrassed," she said, her face turning warm. She liked Edge, sure enough, but he was so loud and bold. Plus, the way he was interested in her was strange; she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Yes, and we don't need to fuel his ego anymore than it already is," Rosa pointed out, starting her Life spell to revive him.

"If you two think it's best," Cecil replied, with a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first time through this game, I got totally slaughtered by the very first random encounter on the moon.


	25. Giant of Babil

Rosa had thought that fighting in this craft would be like fighting on a ship. The battlegrounds were both moving, wasn't that right? However, the Giant moved much differently than a ship. It was subject to uneven speeds, forceful downfalls, and vibrations from the outer attackers. The passageways were narrow and often had deep pits on either side. Due to the risk of falling, they had to learn how to expect when the Giant moved and keep to the center of walkways.

Holding an arrow in her bow, she waited for the shaking of the footfall to pass, then fired it at the strange metal centaur. Something hissed and steam came from its wounds, not blood. "What are these things?" she asked.

"Automatons," FuSoYa said, casting Bolt 3 at the group of foes. "We used the power of science and magic to create them; it was folly on Zemus' part to place such items on your planet."

One of the strange rod 'automatons' fired a beam of light at her. It was like a spell, but not like any she knew of. If the old Lunarian wasn't here, they wouldn't know what to do about these things, much less the Giant of Babil itself. "Seems cruel to me," she said.

"That cruelty is why we decided on non-interference at first," he said. "But we knew we'd be waiting for a very long time."

Rosa wondered what had changed things, causing KluYa to end up on this planet in the first place. FuSoYa seemed interested in knowing about them, even for mundane things like how they studied magic and what they did when not in battle. But in the same way, she was quite interested to know about him. he hadn't told them much, though.

The interference in form of these automatons and the Giant were quite frightening. But, they could handle it. The forces of the whole world had gathered to fight back. And if they had stuck with strict non-interference, then Cecil would have never been born.

That might make it all worth it in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole scene when the Giant of Babil emerges is kind of funny due to the way it's animated. That thing just stomps down over impassable mountains!


	26. Cave of Bahamut

The five of them took a brief break then, looking over the remains of the two automatons that had just fought them. The pair was the size of giants, built like solid armor for a muscular man. As they were bright red and heavy enough to shake the ground with every step, it was impossible to miss them even in this dim cavern. But thanks to the narrow and winding nature of the raised stone path, it was also impossible to avoid them.

Cecil came up to one and pushed on it experimentally. "Rosa, do you think you can cast Float on it so that I can move it out of the way?"

After looking it over, she said, "I don't know if it'll reduce its weight that much, but the three of you should be able to get it pushed aside." She then started casting the spell as Cecil waved Kain and Edge to come help him with it.

The ninja smiled a little as the red automaton began to rise off the ground. "Looks like we needed the girls along, as they said."

"Right," Cecil admitted. "And thanks to all of you for sticking with the group."

"We aren't done with this yet," Kain pointed out.

"Just so you know my appreciation, even now." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Rydia seemed to be looking through the other thing. "Is something the matter, Rydia?" He then put his hands on the automaton so that they could shove it away.

"Hmm?" it took her a moment to fully pay attention. "Oh, I felt something. There's someone of great power at the end of this path. It seems like one of the summon spirits, but I didn't know they came to the moon too. Unless this power means that it's him…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those red robot enemies certainly look like giants. But then, you have to consider Golbez's boss sprite as opposed to his hero sprite; he's five times taller as a boss! The red robots might actually be human sized.


	27. Lunar Core

The road had been a long and hard one. They had faced down demons that appeared in the guise of human mages and warriors. They had fought dragons of all colors and sizes, more automatons, living masks, creatures so powerful that they all had dozens of close encounters with death. Taking possession of armor and weapons the Lunarians had both locked away from fear and kept around for safety, they managed to fight back. But it always felt like it was by the skins of their teeth.

And in that time, there was no time for doubts, internal conflicts, or fears. There was only time to carry on, fight, and survive. This way, they would be able to challenge the true enemy of their world, Zemus. The five heroes pulled together, not learning to work side-by-side, but doing it. Even Edge and Kain, who barely knew and had reasons to dislike each other, they put that aside and worked to get in tune with each other's battle style.

Down here, the paths seemed to be made of glass that was supernaturally tough. It warped the air past it, so all the columns and tiles still hid monsters. but the one they encountered next came up through the floor. Like the winds of a sandstorm, it was visibly insubstantial. But its red form was like that of a man, with a face that any of them might recognize if they saw it again.

It spoke in a voice that was flat and devoid of emotions. "Researching for Master Zemus." It raised its hand and seemed to cast a spell. But nothing happened.

At least on the surface. "It's using Scan," Rosa said.

"Do the same back," Cecil said. "Let's see if we can stop it." Letting their enemy know their strengths and weaknesses would be devastating. He slashed through the ghostly form with his golden sword.

The spirit rippled like smoke when cut with a stick. When it returned to itself, it did not seem bothered by the attack at all. "Researching for Master Zemus." It cast Scan again.

Cecil didn't feel worried as the others worked smoothly to surround the thing. They had gotten this far and they would overcome this foe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the Breath enemy. It's an interesting idea, having an enemy that scans and openly spies for the final boss.


	28. Baron Pub

The air of the kingdom was different. More hopeful, more joyful, less worried, less fearful. The people were confident again, proud of their homeland rather than ashamed. While the celebrations were over, the wishes of making peaceful lives seemed fully attainable. And everyone seemed to be fully into it, hoping to see their dreams too.

It was also different that Cecil was looking this place over as part of the kingdom he ruled, rather than the kingdom he served. In a way, he still served Baron. But he would be the one making the big decisions and everyone would be looking to him for answers. He wasn't out fighting monsters every day anymore, although he felt that he liked this life better than that one.

Gathered with his friends in the town pub, hearing talk about all parts of the globe, it seemed like the whole world was in this hopeful mood. No one talked of war; the closest were those like Kain and Yang who continued to train in order to keep the peace, or to perfect their selves. But they weren't getting too serious today. It was a time to celebrate friendship.

Rosa, Porom, Palom, and Rydia excused themselves from the table, in order to check out the merchants who had come to the town's open market taking place outside. Edge's eyes followed the latter, but he stayed with them. Then he got a grin on his face. "So, what do we talk about now that the women and kids are gone? How about dancing girls?"

"Excuse me?" Edward asked.

"Two of us here are married, you know," Yang pointed out. "And all of us are supposed to be respected members of society."

He waved that concern off. "Yeah, but it's just us talking like old pals, right? Like you," he pointed to Edward, who seemed surprised. "I heard after that shipwreck, you spent months living in Troia, the kingdom, no, queendom where the most beautiful women in the world live. You lucky dog you."

It had been long enough ago that they didn't mind chuckling about that. Edward smiled a bit. "Well I was sick and heart-broken for most of that time. My heart wasn't on any of them."

Pounding his fist on the table, Edge replied, "Maybe, but Troia has that famous pub where all sorts of girls in sexy clothes hang around and entertain folks. And sometimes it's really personal entertainment. I always wanted to go there, but they gave the bouncers my picture and told them not to let me in."

The whole table laughed at that. "I'm not surprised by that," Edward said. "I never went in there myself. But the water dancer around Keipo is talented. It's hard to see what exactly she's doing, though, and I've heard that she doesn't like people going in the water with her."

"You heard or you know?" Edge asked teasingly.

"I heard," Edward insisted.

"Have you seen that dancer in Fabul Castle?" Yang asked. "The one who dances on the bar itself."

Edge looked intrigued. "Really? That would be quite a show."

"Yes, he's quite talented," Cecil said plainly, causing Edge to get embarrassed and make the others laugh again.

"If you want an actual lady," Kain said, putting his mug down, "there's always the Agart dancer. She dances among the beds, but it's very traditional; sometimes you find dwarves in the underworld castle doing the same dance."

Cecil considered it, then poked his old friend in the shoulder. "I'm surprised that you'd remember her, and not the one who lived around here."

At that, he grinned. "Oh yeah, her. I'd say she was the best of them all."

"What's so special about her?" Edge asked.

Deciding to understate it again, he answered, "She would tear her dress off at the start and was so good at it that she could put it back on after the dance and you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary."

"And don't drool," Kain said to Edge. "She wore a flesh-colored wrap underneath and wore that for her dance."

He acted indignant. "Oh, you tell me not to drool and then tell me that? Man, you're trying to push my resolve, aren't you?"

They all laughed, not worried about problems or being overheard. Life was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody ever comments on the dancers! I think it's a funny detail, especially the one in Mysidia (who will still turn Cecil into a mini-pig-toad when he's a paladin!). And of course I wanted something silly to end it with.  
> I was going to do a similar drabble series for II while I played through that. It is a fun game, once you get past the initial stat-grind learning curve. However, the characters in it are just not as interesting. They have very vague personalities and any individuality (like Guy talking to animals) is shown rarely. So the drabbles ended up being a chore to write and I gave up on the project around the Dreadnaught infiltration. That means that FFI would be even worse for this, as the characters are total blank slates. I tried V, but it didn't get finished. But I still like this idea, so I may restart that one or try for VI or VII.


End file.
